French minister visits US Internet firms about militants' messaging

France's chief internal security official is traveling to California's Silicon Valley to discuss his government's concerns about violent jihadist social media messaging with leading tech and Internet companies.
   
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told a Washington news conference on Thursday that "all the Internet operators were welcoming me," including Twitter Inc, Google Inc , Microsoft Corp and Facebook Inc.
   
He said that when meeting with the companies on Friday, he would discuss several issues related to the use of social media by groups such as Islamic State, including the companies' own "codes of conduct" as well as strategies for using social media to counter violent messaging by militants.
   
He said that under a new French law, the government has the authority to "block" the posting of content which it considers dangerous. A French official said that a law granting the government powers to do this was passed by the French parliament late last year, and that regulations to implement it were issued ten days ago.
   
Cazaneuve said, however, that he expected that French authorities would not have to use their powers to ban particular message traffic often. "We think the companies will do it," he said.
   
The companies did not have immediate comment.
   
Cazaneuve noted the French were strong proponents of freedom of speech and that the condemnation of the recent deadly shooting attack by two gunmen at the offices of satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, which had published cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, demonstrated how highly France values free expression.
   
Earlier, in a speech to an international summit meeting on "countering violent extremism" hosted by the...